CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) -- A change at the National Weather Service could put millions of lives at risk.
For now, the weather service will no longer translate weather alerts for non-English speakers.
Spanish speakers alone need the service.
Census data shows in the eight-county Charlotte region, the Hispanic population increased by 50% since 2010, but Spanish isn't the only language impacted.
In January 2024, Queen City News showed you dramatic video in east Charlotte of a man trapped in his car that was being swept away during a storm.
Neighbors spoke with him in Spanish telling him to lower his car window, so that they could rescue him.
At the time, the neighbors were able to get critical alerts in Spanish from the National Weather Service warning them of storms and severe flooding.
Now they cannot.
Ana Adams works for La COALICIÓN, the Latin American Coalition in Charlotte. She only speaks Spanish.
Ana Adams.She says not getting the alerts in her native language will affect her and her whole community.
“If an emergency happens, being able to concentrate on your primary language is the first step we need to take in an emergency,” said Adams in Spanish.
The National Weather Service is no longer providing translations in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French and Samoan because the contract with its artificial intelligence provider has lapsed.
The decision comes at the same time as President Donald Trump’s administration is working on spending cuts at NWS’ head agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“I don’t understand the value or savings versus a life — someone’s life,” said Jose Hernandez-Paris, Chief Executive Officer of La COALICIÓN.
Rep. Tim Moore looking to finish the job on closing gap in Charlotte-area weather radar“For a big chunk of the population to be disconnected from that, inevitably I think it will mean someone will probably die because they didn’t understand how to react to a specific weather situation,” said Hernandez-Paris.
We reached out to the national weather service for our area in Greenville-Spartanburg for further comment.
They referred us to NOAA's national office. They say translation services are paused until further notice because of the contract lapse.
Those are the only details they'll give us now.
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